July 23, 2025 • 8 mins
If you’ve never had the pleasure of sitting down with Elly Griffiths, let me tell you: it’s like opening the first page of a gripping mystery and realising, with a smile, that you’re in very good hands.This year at The Harrogate Crime Writers Festival, I had the joy of chatting with the legendary author in none other than the Old Swan Library — a place steeped in literary history (yes, the same hotel where Agatha Christie famously vanished to). The couch? Not official. The interview? Absolutely brilliant.Elly Griffiths, bestselling author of the beloved Dr Ruth Galloway series, joined me to talk about her incredible 15-book run (and counting), her thoughts on character longevity, the evolution of crime fiction, and, of course, her impressive streak of 15 consecutive visits to the Harrogate festival. That’s more loyalty than most gym memberships can boast.🖊️ What We Covered:* How her characters have grown across 15 novels.* What draws her back to Harrogate every single year.* The delicate balance between plotting and pantsing.* Her reflections on crime fiction’s place in modern storytelling.* Why she still loves meeting readers face-to-face.It was a quick chat, but one filled with warmth, insight, and plenty of admiration — both ways. Elly was gracious, funny, and as sharp as her writing. Honestly, “Chris on the Couch” might need to become a proper feature if it means more moments like this.Whether you’re a longtime Elly Griffiths fan or you’ve just wandered into the world of crime fiction, this is one conversation you’ll want to hear.🎧 Listen to the podcast episode above.📺 Or watch the full interview here:Let us know what you think — and don’t forget to share it with your fellow bookworms, festival goers, and mystery lovers.Until next time,CJ AggettThe Writing Community Chat Show
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
So hello, helly riviis it's an absolute pleasure to have
you here. Not we didn't bring you to arrogate, but
it is lovely in the lovely library that we're sat in,
which is the library in the old Swan.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hotel, which is a lovely place.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
How many times have you been to this festival as
a spectator and been involved?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I think this.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Is probably my fifteenth year, and I've come every year
apart from the the COVID year when none of us.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yes, of course. So the Roof Gallery series is fifteen
books long? Is that coincidence of been here fifteen times?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
No, it is quite neat though, isn't it. It's fits
quite neatly.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
But I've written thirty two books, so if you sort
of fitted all in, that's kind of I'm quite bad
at maths, but sort of more than.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Two a year, that certainly is. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
So what's really interesting about writing a series, especially fifteen
books long, is keeping that sort of creative flow going
throughout the books. It was that like a difficult challenge
or was that character always driving you through the series?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
It was the character, I think, and I think possibly
how by the fact that I didn't know they were
going to be fifteen, so each one could have been
the last, I suppose, So that sort of grew organically really,
and because by the fifteenth book the relationships are quite
complicated between Ruth and the detective Nelson. But the fact
that I didn't know what was going to happen to them,
I think that helped keep it fresh really, and the
(01:19):
fact as well as she's an archaeologist, so there's a
different place and a different bit of archaeology for each.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
One, So yeah, help.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Your books have been sort of praised for being historically
accurate and very detailed. So was that an actual attempt
that you made to make sure it's very detailed or
were you just kind of natural going through your history And.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Well, I think it helps in a book if the
detail is accurate or it feels accurate, because otherwise I
think the reader is a little bit drawn out of
the story. So I think it helps it feels authentic.
My husband's an archaeologists, right, so that is quite helpful.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So I'm assuming that's where you get a lot of
your research from.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Well you would assume that that's not true, so he
doesn't help with the research, but he is very supportive
and he has introduced me to a lot of archaeologists,
particularly two women archaeologists, one called Lindsay Harvey who's a
bones expert.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Wow, have really helped me.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yes, So what's potentially the most surprising fact about you know,
maybe archaeology that you didn't know before you start your research.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I tell you something that always stuck with me was
that Lindsay said that if you have nettles in your garden,
it might well have a body there because nettles.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Grow very well on human remains.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
So it has made me look at my quite untidy
garden and various other waste spaces.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
And keeping a layout in a different way. Now, Yeah, certainly.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
And I think the way archaeologists look at landscape is
so fascinating because they see sort of dips that could
have been buildings or structures, and it just makes you
look at hills and fields.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I know, I always get this weird fascination when they
dig up an old Roman road they didn't know it
was there, and it's just below the surface, and you think,
what else is there we literally haven't even discovered yet.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
And it's the layers, isn't it that there are layers?
I remember being in London and seeing a sort of
layer of charred bricks and somebody said it's.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
The boudicun destruction layer.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
So when Budika came into London and burnt it down,
but you can still see that layer.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So you mentioned about your characters you kind of didn't
know where they were going, and you know that was
part of the exciting journey. But does that mean you're
a panster or you're a plot or a bit of both.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I'm probably a bit of both.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I remember I can't remember who it was that harrog
At once misheard that and thought they were being asked
if they were an otter or a panther.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So I don't know if I'm an otter or a panther.
I think a bit of both.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
I have an idea of what I'm going to write,
but I don't write things down, so I don't have
a spreadsheet and I don't have that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So for a lot of people, I mean most of
our viewers tend to be authors themselves, so a lot
of people that process just explain a bit more.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Is basically, you use a lot of the.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Time thinking the process through and the story and that's
your plotting in your mind basically before you start writing
that out.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, I don't have anything written down, But actually I'm
very much about starting and just seeing where that takes
you and not waiting to have the inspiration, just hoping
that it's going to come at the end. So I
think as also, I have the place. I think as
always had the place, and I have the character voice.
I'm happy to start not quite knowing who's going to
be murdered or who murders them.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And again, with twenty of books that you mentioned that writing,
then there must be a lot of different ways you
need to murder somebody. So have you got a favorite
murder so far?
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Yeah, there's only a certain number of ways who can
kill people. I'm sure I've used them all at least twice. Well,
I do one of my books. You shouldn't be fond
of a web. But I have an aunt who it's
really loves crime fiction and the fact I used her
as an inspiration for a character in the PostScript Murders,
and she thought of an idea of murder that involved
(04:42):
a stairlift. Okay, so I used that, and I think
it's in the house at seas end and when.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
It was reviewed had a really nice review, and the.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Reviews that Ellie Griffith's uses has the most horrible use
of a stair lift I've ever heard, and my aunt
was so pleased she had that framed. So I think
the stairlift Murder.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Still, that is a great one. I really like that one.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
It could be a title for a serious stairlift.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Stairlift modis, but then they're very slow.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
They're very slow, yes, and you can be stuck on one,
you know, as my aunt.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Wow, that is one way your original way to kill
somebody for sure. Oh yeah, So The Frozen People is
that your latest?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, okay, So have you got anything? First of all,
how has that response gone down with the readers? How
have they taken to that.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
I've been so pleased at how people have responded to
The Frozen People because it is on one level it's
a crime novel set in London with about cold cases.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
But another way, it's about time travel.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Yeah, and the main character travels to eighteen fifty to
Victoria in London, so it is a little different. But
I always say to people kind of don't worry about
their element topic, you know, just just sort of maybe
hopefully enjoy the characters and they're setting.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Into the time travel.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Don't worry about the time travel.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
It's a bit like that serious ashes storages. I never
really knew why they traveledn't I. They did explain, but
I can't remember. But I didn't care. I just really
like the characters and I was along for the ride.
So I hope that's how people feel about the Frozen People.
So there's a sequel to it. It's called The Killing
Time and it's out next February.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So it's always that risk, isn't it when you have
a loyal set of readers and you suddenly change something.
But I think the time to travel aspect is probably
a small aspect in a.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Story like that, I think, so.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I think it is still very much a crime novel. Yeah,
but there is, I have to saynd a lot of
fun just with the clothes that she wore and totally.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Said to me.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Interviewed me and he said, doctor, who's been on television
for sixty years and he's never been to the loop.
Your character as soon as she gets into eighteen fifty,
we find out how she goes to the loop.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I was kind of interested in those little details.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
So it's those little details about what it was really
like as far as you can to be a woman
in eighteen fifty incredible.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
We've got to wrap this up, Singe, really sorry with
a short time. But one thing I've always asked everybody
here is what advice have you got for somebody that
comes to the festival for the first time.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Well, it's such a lovely, friendly festival, so I would
say just try and chat to people. It is a
little bit difficult when you come to your place and
everyone seems to know each other, but actually they probably don't,
you know, and they probably don't all know each other.
They probably just waiting for you to go up. So
I would say, go and talk to people, go to
all the events and just have chats to people in
the signing queue. I met three lovely ladies who become
(07:26):
friends who are just meeting in the signing queue. So
talk to people and just enjoy it. Harroy gets a
beautiful place and it's an amazing festival.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Absolutely, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
And finally, if we can, what one tips could you
give someone who's looking to start maybe writing in the
crime genre for the first time.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Well, a bit like as we were talking about, you know,
whether you plan or not, I would say, just start,
Just start. Don't think you've got to have the really
clever plot because you think of a great plot twist
and ten to one Agua christ has already done it. Yeah,
don't think of you need the cleverest blot twist, all
the most brilliant unusual setting. Just start, see if you
(08:04):
can get a voice, and just see where that takes you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Well, Ellie, thank you so much for sitting with us
and chatting. Chris on the Couch a new feature we've got. Yeah,
I'm liking it. I hope you have a lovely weekend
here and we're looking forward to seeing what's out in
the future in February.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.
So hello, helly riviis it's an absolute pleasure to have
you here. Not we didn't bring you to arrogate, but
it is lovely in the lovely library that we're sat in,
which is the library in the old Swan.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hotel, which is a lovely place.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
How many times have you been to this festival as
a spectator and been involved?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
I think this.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Is probably my fifteenth year, and I've come every year
apart from the the COVID year when none of us.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Yes, of course. So the Roof Gallery series is fifteen
books long? Is that coincidence of been here fifteen times?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So?
Speaker 3 (00:34):
No, it is quite neat though, isn't it. It's fits
quite neatly.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
But I've written thirty two books, so if you sort
of fitted all in, that's kind of I'm quite bad
at maths, but sort of more than.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Two a year, that certainly is. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
So what's really interesting about writing a series, especially fifteen
books long, is keeping that sort of creative flow going
throughout the books. It was that like a difficult challenge
or was that character always driving you through the series?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
It was the character, I think, and I think possibly
how by the fact that I didn't know they were
going to be fifteen, so each one could have been
the last, I suppose, So that sort of grew organically really,
and because by the fifteenth book the relationships are quite
complicated between Ruth and the detective Nelson. But the fact
that I didn't know what was going to happen to them,
I think that helped keep it fresh really, and the
(01:19):
fact as well as she's an archaeologist, so there's a
different place and a different bit of archaeology for each.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
One, So yeah, help.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Your books have been sort of praised for being historically
accurate and very detailed. So was that an actual attempt
that you made to make sure it's very detailed or
were you just kind of natural going through your history And.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Well, I think it helps in a book if the
detail is accurate or it feels accurate, because otherwise I
think the reader is a little bit drawn out of
the story. So I think it helps it feels authentic.
My husband's an archaeologists, right, so that is quite helpful.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
So I'm assuming that's where you get a lot of
your research from.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Well you would assume that that's not true, so he
doesn't help with the research, but he is very supportive
and he has introduced me to a lot of archaeologists,
particularly two women archaeologists, one called Lindsay Harvey who's a
bones expert.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Wow, have really helped me.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yes, So what's potentially the most surprising fact about you know,
maybe archaeology that you didn't know before you start your research.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
I tell you something that always stuck with me was
that Lindsay said that if you have nettles in your garden,
it might well have a body there because nettles.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Grow very well on human remains.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
So it has made me look at my quite untidy
garden and various other waste spaces.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
And keeping a layout in a different way. Now, Yeah, certainly.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
And I think the way archaeologists look at landscape is
so fascinating because they see sort of dips that could
have been buildings or structures, and it just makes you
look at hills and fields.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
I know, I always get this weird fascination when they
dig up an old Roman road they didn't know it
was there, and it's just below the surface, and you think,
what else is there we literally haven't even discovered yet.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
And it's the layers, isn't it that there are layers?
I remember being in London and seeing a sort of
layer of charred bricks and somebody said it's.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
The boudicun destruction layer.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
So when Budika came into London and burnt it down,
but you can still see that layer.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So you mentioned about your characters you kind of didn't
know where they were going, and you know that was
part of the exciting journey. But does that mean you're
a panster or you're a plot or a bit of both.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I'm probably a bit of both.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I remember I can't remember who it was that harrog
At once misheard that and thought they were being asked
if they were an otter or a panther.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
So I don't know if I'm an otter or a panther.
I think a bit of both.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
I have an idea of what I'm going to write,
but I don't write things down, so I don't have
a spreadsheet and I don't have that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
So for a lot of people, I mean most of
our viewers tend to be authors themselves, so a lot
of people that process just explain a bit more.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Is basically, you use a lot of the.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Time thinking the process through and the story and that's
your plotting in your mind basically before you start writing
that out.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
Yeah, I don't have anything written down, But actually I'm
very much about starting and just seeing where that takes
you and not waiting to have the inspiration, just hoping
that it's going to come at the end. So I
think as also, I have the place. I think as
always had the place, and I have the character voice.
I'm happy to start not quite knowing who's going to
be murdered or who murders them.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
And again, with twenty of books that you mentioned that writing,
then there must be a lot of different ways you
need to murder somebody. So have you got a favorite
murder so far?
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Yeah, there's only a certain number of ways who can
kill people. I'm sure I've used them all at least twice. Well,
I do one of my books. You shouldn't be fond
of a web. But I have an aunt who it's
really loves crime fiction and the fact I used her
as an inspiration for a character in the PostScript Murders,
and she thought of an idea of murder that involved
(04:42):
a stairlift. Okay, so I used that, and I think
it's in the house at seas end and when.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
It was reviewed had a really nice review, and the.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Reviews that Ellie Griffith's uses has the most horrible use
of a stair lift I've ever heard, and my aunt
was so pleased she had that framed. So I think
the stairlift Murder.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Still, that is a great one. I really like that one.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
It could be a title for a serious stairlift.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Stairlift modis, but then they're very slow.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
They're very slow, yes, and you can be stuck on one,
you know, as my aunt.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Wow, that is one way your original way to kill
somebody for sure. Oh yeah, So The Frozen People is
that your latest?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, okay, So have you got anything? First of all,
how has that response gone down with the readers? How
have they taken to that.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
I've been so pleased at how people have responded to
The Frozen People because it is on one level it's
a crime novel set in London with about cold cases.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
But another way, it's about time travel.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
Yeah, and the main character travels to eighteen fifty to
Victoria in London, so it is a little different. But
I always say to people kind of don't worry about
their element topic, you know, just just sort of maybe
hopefully enjoy the characters and they're setting.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Into the time travel.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Don't worry about the time travel.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
It's a bit like that serious ashes storages. I never
really knew why they traveledn't I. They did explain, but
I can't remember. But I didn't care. I just really
like the characters and I was along for the ride.
So I hope that's how people feel about the Frozen People.
So there's a sequel to it. It's called The Killing
Time and it's out next February.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So it's always that risk, isn't it when you have
a loyal set of readers and you suddenly change something.
But I think the time to travel aspect is probably
a small aspect in a.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Story like that, I think, so.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I think it is still very much a crime novel. Yeah,
but there is, I have to saynd a lot of
fun just with the clothes that she wore and totally.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Said to me.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Interviewed me and he said, doctor, who's been on television
for sixty years and he's never been to the loop.
Your character as soon as she gets into eighteen fifty,
we find out how she goes to the loop.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I was kind of interested in those little details.
Speaker 4 (06:46):
So it's those little details about what it was really
like as far as you can to be a woman
in eighteen fifty incredible.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
We've got to wrap this up, Singe, really sorry with
a short time. But one thing I've always asked everybody
here is what advice have you got for somebody that
comes to the festival for the first time.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Well, it's such a lovely, friendly festival, so I would
say just try and chat to people. It is a
little bit difficult when you come to your place and
everyone seems to know each other, but actually they probably don't,
you know, and they probably don't all know each other.
They probably just waiting for you to go up. So
I would say, go and talk to people, go to
all the events and just have chats to people in
the signing queue. I met three lovely ladies who become
(07:26):
friends who are just meeting in the signing queue. So
talk to people and just enjoy it. Harroy gets a
beautiful place and it's an amazing festival.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Absolutely, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
And finally, if we can, what one tips could you
give someone who's looking to start maybe writing in the
crime genre for the first time.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
Well, a bit like as we were talking about, you know,
whether you plan or not, I would say, just start,
Just start. Don't think you've got to have the really
clever plot because you think of a great plot twist
and ten to one Agua christ has already done it. Yeah,
don't think of you need the cleverest blot twist, all
the most brilliant unusual setting. Just start, see if you
(08:04):
can get a voice, and just see where that takes you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Amazing.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Well, Ellie, thank you so much for sitting with us
and chatting. Chris on the Couch a new feature we've got. Yeah,
I'm liking it. I hope you have a lovely weekend
here and we're looking forward to seeing what's out in
the future in February.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.
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